The Plight of Ferguson Mueller
by Alexandria the Great
Summary: This is Gundam Wing II. Ch 3 uploaded: "Okay, what *exactly* is going on here? I get that some assassin guy wants to knock me off...but what else is there?"
1. Prologue: The New End

            Prologue

            In the Mobile Suit Wing Zero Custom, Heero gasped as he flung himself between the Earth and the last piece of war the human race was to witness.  The intensity of the gravity pulled on every aspect of him, his sweat illuminated by the fiery red warning light in the stuffy cockpit, was dripping against the soggy leather headrest, hitting it like stones.  The super human pushed against the nature of gravity, pushing with all of his physical strength and the new, strange emotional strength endowed in him from the colonies, for the colonies.  

            "I will….I will…._I will survive!_" he yelled, heaving moisture at his monitor, the glass breaking in his determined face, his voice ringing in violent speakers throughout the belligerent struggle above the mother of mankind.  From the powerful Twin Buster Rifles, a momentous expulsion of molten energy collided with Barge.  The cursed ship cracked in glowing capillaries that reached to the end of the falling vessel, and it was shattered.  The harmless debris caught fire and streaked the sky in a memorable spectacle that many remembered as 'The Holy Lights.' The Earth's sole savior, went limp and fell hard to the sea, his fighting machine making a mini tsunami that went nowhere.  He was later recovered, and the comrades parted ways to pave their inconspicuous paths in the new beginning of Earth.  

            War was what they had fought to end.  They hoped to abolish the evil of such massive, life-altering conflict in one final stand, pitting the colonies against the whole of the motherland, and ceasing hatred between human brothers.  Now the human race could exist without fighting, and use the example of the last battle as an example of the senseless waste of life a war is.  

            Vice-Foreign Minister Darlian was more than just a peace symbol, more than just a crusader against war and violence, but and angel that showed the world down the golden path of peace, a path that none would go astray, for one, for all.  

            It only took one, however, one hate, one argument, one attack, for war to implement and ruin the new 'permanent peace.' That one could be the simplest of civilians, a lawyer, a doctor, a secretary at some executive place, or even a homeless bag lady.  But those would be mere sparks compared to the flame of a true evil leader.  


	2. Dangers in the New End

            Dangers of the New End

            "…and now that the peoples of the world and the colonies have united in uniform peace, we can focus on things that matter to each individual: another raise in minimum wage!"

            "Yes!" cried the zealous crowd. 

            "Betterment of retirement communities! Building more schools! High-quality education for all! The opportunity for all humans to have proper medical and dental care!"

            The crowd whooped and hollered as Their Precious Crusader rattled off her numerous intended miracles.  Die-hardies wore t-shirts bearing the innocent face of their angel and held supportive poster boards that read everything from "Relena Rocks!" to "We Adore the Adorable" to "Gimme Just one night", and the girls wore her suits.   They made Relena smile and feel like somebody out there truly did care about her personally, not just for her great miracles, and also thought she was reasonably attractive.  It was hard for the Vice-Foreign Minister to date privately, especially considering she'd never had a date, or even been double dating. For one half second, she allowed her mind to drift to thoughts about the one man she ever could have given her heart to…why do the great girls love the baddest of bad boys…

            "More effective law enforcement!" she cried one half second later, disturbing the steady flow of promise-whoop-promise-holler-promise-whoop-promise-holler.  Why was she thinking of him at a time like this?

            "Total compensation for the families of war victims!" 

            The biggest whoop yet. 

            "And, last but not least, the promise of a better life for you and me!"

            They began cheering before the words were fully out of her mouth, and they didn't get any quieter when she thanked them for their time and gathered her papers left from her three-hour speech.  She felt appreciated by the ones that insisted on relentless cheering the entire time; apparently the adrenaline of better education and law enforcement got them going.  Her bodyguards waited patiently by her side as she carelessly shoved and situated papers in her briefcase for her departure from the Steely Arena.  She rose from her childish squatting position once they were secure, and was escorted out by four that that each could have killed her frail self with a mere punch or kick.  Backstage they went, the four big men and the little celebrity girl, past the make up rooms and dressing rooms and storage closets and locker rooms, and over a one-dimensional maze of cords and wires attached to cameras and sound equipment.  A loud buzz whirred in the distance behind them, the sound of a hockey game on its way.  Relena could hear rowdy men making the ice their own.  She quickened her pace, for she was falling behind her place: directly between Agent 1 and Agent 2.  

            When the back door opened, a gust of cool night air laid its hands on Relena and pushed her away from the limousine. She fought it effortlessly, and placed herself inside between Agent 1 and Agent 2.  Agent Three muttered to the driver through the lowered window that separated them where to go.  The driver gave and affirmative grunt and rolled up the opaque little window.  It wasn't like Péggin to grunt, Relena thought, then remembered that he had the flu.  Poor Péggin, she thought.  She reached up by Agent 2's head a touched a shiny little red button labeled 'TALK.'

            "Driver, is there a floral shop on our way to the airport?"

            No reply.  Relena looked at Agent 2.  He lowered his glasses.  She tried again.

            "Driver?"

            "Yes." Came the answer, quick and gruff. 

            "Would stop at one please?"     

            No reply. 

            "Driver?"

            "Sure." 

            "Thank you."

            Relena released the button and leaned back against the cool leather seat.  That's a weird substitute, she thought, not polite at all.    Relena switched another button overhead and a window in front of her lit up with a television show.  She pulled a small lever and a hidden door swung open and a mechanical arm offered her a Diet Coke.  She opened the soda, filling the air between her and the can with tiny bits of condensation and the sharp whisper of contents under pressure finally being released.  She sipped quietly as she watched as she watched one of those teen dramas Dorothy had insisted she see.   It was all right, one of those 'teen with issues' storylines; those never impressed Relena; she had issues with _world peace_ to contemplate, and she was too busy to commit suicide.  The rhythm of the car moving in a strait line down the highway was deterred by a sharp turn to the left, one that made Relena lean to keep her balance, but her guards were still, as usual.  The car slid to a stop.  Relena looked over her shoulder. This was a gas station.  She jumped out, followed by her guards, and bought two candy bars and a few bags of chips, then jumped back in the car before they made it back with her.  She flopped back in the car like a child and opened a bag of Cheetos.  The door behind her closed and locked.  Relena didn't pay it any mind; she just assumed it was the wind.  

            "Relena," the driver's gruffly familiar voice cracked over the speaker, "Are the men in?"

            Relena, surprised that the driver was making actual conversation with her, spoke before any real thought crossed her mind, "No—" 

            The car shot out of the gas station, throwing the Vice Foreign Minister to her side on the floor.  She opened her eyes to the sight of a tiny pipe spewing a white fog.  She gasped, taking in some of the fume, and blacked out.  

            Seconds later, she woke up. She was still in the limo, but nearly a dozen boxes and pieces of luggage surrounded her.  She looked around with her eyes, then her head.  The limo was still moving along the highway, thought exactly _what _highway they were going down was the real question.  Relena realized she had been out for much longer than a few seconds, and pretty far gone if they had managed to load up boxes and such without her waking up.  It was frightening.  Relena wanted to move, but she didn't know if she had the strength.  She wanted to see what was in the boxes.  But what if there was something in those cardboard storage containers that was top secret—so top secret that even the Vice-Foreign Minister could see them, and live to tell about it?  What of they were all bombs that would go off when the parcel was opened? What if they were dried corpses of little green men? What if…? Relena pulled herself up on a lonely box nearby and leaned on the top.  She froze.  Could she hear ticking? She heard nothing, save the wind that gushed on the outside of the car, the limo going a steady sixty or seventy down the road.  The boxes were stacked as high as the ceiling against the windows, so no one could see her even if their vision could penetrate the black tint.  She slowly lifted herself from the top of the box and gazed at the folded flaps.  Why something so top secret be haphazardly stored?  Her curiosity took control of her hands, and, very gingerly, she lifted the tabs that hid the contents from her wandering eyes, and they parted with a PLOOF!  Heero Bear's silent brown eyes glistened under the dim light of the little bit of rainy day outside the cabin.  Relena seized him, squeezing him as when she'd first received him, a mixture of shock and relief washed over her heart.  She looked where her Heero Bear lay.  Other childhood stuffed toys wee neatly situated inside.  She used one hand to dig a bit.  They were all hers.  She moved to another box, grasping Heero Bear to her heaving chest.  She laid the bear on top of the flaps, hoping to silence some of the noise the box made while opening.  The bear convulsed with the opening the tabs and Relena hugged him close again.  Books of hers.  Pleasure reads.  She reached for another box.  A whirring noise stopped her dead.  She looked over her shoulder.  The window behind the driver's head was getting lower by the second.  Relena made half a move to get back to her position, when the driver caught her, looking in her frightened eyes.  

            "You're awake," the driver said solemnly, his gruff, scratchy voice.  She was still frozen.  

            "All of the stuff in the boxes is yours."

            Relena was still completely petrified.  The driver smiled. 

            "Don't worry Relena, you're safe, or you will be in just a bit."

            "Who are you?" she accidentally screamed.  The driver flinched in alarm. 

            "Come here, Relena." 

            Relena didn't move. 

            "Come, come here, Relena."

            Relena grasped Heero Bear, willing her Heero to come at anytime, intercept the mad driver, and liberate her from this cursed vehicle.  Her knees dragged her against her will to the tiny window, the portal to her death.  The driver looked at her.  She looked at the driver.  He didn't seem real.  She looked away to the road, hoping to clear her mind's eyes of this illusion forced on her by the stress of promise-whoop-promise-holler…the weren't on any highway, but a street leading to quiet suburbs.  They stopped in front of a nice house, two stories, blues shutters, red door, and a cherry tree in the front.  Relena looked at the house in disbelief.  It was so perfect, so happy.  It made her feel warm and loved, just looking at it.  She looked at the driver.  The driver removed his cap, releasing his cascading silvery hair that fell to his seat.  He looked into her eyes with…her eyes. 

            "Oh, Milliardo!" she hugged him, squeezing Heero Bear between them.  He pulled her into the front seat to sit beside him.  

            "I'm sorry I scared you, Little Sister, but I had to get you away from the guards."

            "What for? If you had told me it was you I could have sent them away."

            "I had to take you. There's trouble, Relena."

            "What kind of trouble?"

            "A revolutionary."

            Relena paused. The whole human race was at peace. _What _was there to rebel against?

            "A revolutionary against _what_?"

            "Peace."

            "…what…"

            "He doesn't believe in peace, and he doesn't believe in you.  All he wants to do it fight, and fight some more.  And he wants to smite the very heart of peace—you." 

            Relena had expected to one day be the moving prey of some cunning assassin, but not one that was out specifically to start a war.  That would not do.

            "How do you know this?"

            "A reliable, confidential source."

            "Heero?"

            "No, you just have to believe me, Relena. Heero doesn't know about this, not yet.  But he's living nearby, and when I tell him, he will protect you."

            Relena squeezed Heero Bear's tiny shoulders and looked into his cold eyes.  His eyes were cold like Heero's, and she longed for them to warm up to her.  She slept with her Heero Bear every night, hoping to warm his eyes, hoping that one day, the teddy bear would gaze at her with the same warmth and love she felt for both Heeros.  Relena became fearful all of a sudden, and held her bear close. 

            "Relena?"

            "Am I in so much danger that I need Heero to protect me?"

            "Yes you are.  And you can't know about it."

            "What do you mean?"

            Milliardo rummaged through him coat and produced a small, translucent bottle of tiny pills. He handed them to his sister.  She took them, looked the unmarked bottle over and looked to her brother for guidance.            

            "Take every last one of those three times a day until they are gone."

            "What are they for?"

            "Just do as I say.  They are for your own good.  Every time you take one, recite this name, either out loud or in your head: Aleta Shelton."

            "Aleta Shelton. Aleta Shelton. Who is Aleta Shelton?"

            "You'll know soon enough.  Come on, let me take your things inside.  This is where you will live until it is safe for you to appear anywhere."  Milliardo removed himself from the front seat with a moan and took some of the lighter boxes, obviously her clothes, and proceeded to the front door.  A man and woman opened the door.

            "Relena! Glad to meet you! Welcome!" the sweet woman exclaimed, throwing her arms around Relena and kissing her cheek.  Relena smiled and hugged her bear. 

            "And who's this?" the woman leaned over and examined the bundle in Relena's arms with a caring smile. 

            "Heero Bear," Relena muttered absentmindedly.  The man took the boxes from Milliardo's hands. 

            "Lemme give ya a hand there, buddy."

            Milliardo willingly let the boxes go and returned to the car for three more.  The man took the last three boxes.   Milliardo waited with Relena and the woman for the man.  He returned with a ever-present smile from putting the boxes in the house.  Milliardo cleared him throat. 

            "Relena has some medicine she needs to take three times each day.  I trust you know a reliable hospital incase of an emergency, and her medical files are in the bottom of her box of pleasure reads."

            The man and woman nodded as Relena's brother instructed her as if her were their long-gone father.  Relena felt like a child.  She was sixteen years old and being treated like someone ten years her junior. Milliardo hugged Relena, who didn't hug back because she still held her bear. 

            "I will see you soon, sister, and you will be safe." 

            Relena didn't nod or anything.  She just looked at the house's perfect little garden and blue shutters and red door and cherry tree in the front, so perfect, so happy.  Milliardo was a shadow on this perfect little house, perfect little family, and he was back in the car with a wave of him coat.  Relena watched him as he circled the cul-de-sac, and accelerated out of the neighborhood.           

            Two months later, Heero nervously scanned a customer's selected outfits and rang up the price. 

            "That's sixty-seven eighty-four."

            The lady took her time writing a check while her children wandered about, playing with various small toys and figurines.  The lady tore the check out of the book and handed Heero her drivers' license.  She thought that his wild Prussian eyes were glaring right through the machine, initiating the gears, making the thing work.  His chocolate brown hair shrived with his every move and not one hair was in place, or out of place.   The casual beep of the machine and the little toys that the children played with couldn't hold a candle to this organic machine as he typed numbers, scanned, and sold like he was raised to work and do nothing else…

            "Thank you for your purchase," his groan of a voice said, "Come and see us again."

            "Thank you," the lady accepted, freeing herself from the trance he'd put her in.  She called her children and they walked quickly out of the store, like a stick of honey surrounded by anxious little bees.  Heero tapped his finger, and fidgeted with his cell phone.  What the _hell_ was Zechs doing? Didn't he know what Heero knew?  Heero glanced around, feeling that the world was watching something he very obviously didn't see, and was laughing at him and taking advantage of his ignorance. He couldn't stand it anymore.  He pushed himself away from the counter and stepped out into the mall.  He shook his head from the self-inflicted hysteria and flopped down on a bench.  He held his head in his hands and roughed up his untamable hair.  He stretched.  And he looked to his right.  And he saw Relena.

            His senses shut down.  He couldn't believe it.  _What was going on?_     

            "Relena…" he muttered in his deep voice.  All five of the girls she was with looked behind them at the un-heard-of depth.  He was looking at her. 

            "Excuse me?"

            "Relena, what are you doing here? Don't you know how dangerous it is for you?!"

            "Who are you?"

            "You know who I am!"

            Relena looked confused and surprised.  She shook her head without looking away from his engaging eyes she knew from somewhere far away…

            "Relena!"

            She blinked. "I'm sorry. You've got the wrong girl. My name is Aleta."

            Heero looked at her blankly. "…Aleta…"

            "Yeah," Relena-Aleta confirmed, "And if you like, you can have my number!"

            Her girlfriends laughed.  Heero didn't think this was at all funny.  

            "…Aleta…"

            "You've never heard the name 'Aleta' before? That's my name. What's yours?"

            "I'm Heero, Aleta.  That's a nice bear you have there."

            Relena-Aleta stopped laughing and held the bear close. "Thank you.  I brought him here to see if the shop can fix him for me. He got a tear…" she spoke as if she were entranced. 

            "What's his name?" Heero asked quietly, dropping his voice another decibel. 

            "His…he's…Heero Bear…H-E-"

            "E-R-O.  Come with me. I'll show you where to get him fixed." 

            Aleta's friends watched her go with this weird, but hot guy and smiled for her.  Heero rounded the corner to a bit of privacy and looked her in the eye. 

            "Do you _really_ not know me?"

            "Well, now I know you're name is Heero…but that's all."

            Heero felt lost.  Zechs must not have known. Heero was always ten steps ahead of him, anyway.  Heero took Relena's hand and started pulling her quickly to the exit. 

            "Hey wait, Heero, wait, where are we—"

            With a mighty kick of his powerful legs, Heero kicked open one of the side entrances and pulled the objecting girl with him.  Relena-Aleta started getting really loud as he pulled her along. 

            "Relena stop! Just come on!"

            "No, let me go!" she pulled and pushed against this man who was kidnapping her. "Help!" 

            Heero growled and grabbed her arm, slinging her over his shoulder with a gasp from her.  She almost dropped Heero Bear, but held tight to him and used him in her effort to free herself from this sexy acquaintance-turned-federal offender.  He opened a red Lamborghini with a remote and put her inside.  She tried to jump out, but the door slammed down and a seatbelt from nowhere held her down and made her struggles futile.  Heero jumped in seconds later, and was instantly buckled, too. He looked at her. 

            "Where are you taking me?" she begged, scared stiff.  Heero winced and started the car.  He backed out of the parking lot and zoomed down the street, a hard expression dominating his face.  Relena was flattened against the seat, her heart stalled from the speed, eyes wide as if her lids were being blown back.  She grasped Heero Bear, protecting him from the rage of this mad Heero-also, clutching him to her chest and closing her eyes.  She opened them seconds later, just as they were running into a closed storage garage. 

            "_Stop!_" 

            The whole garage stood a ninety-degree angle from it counterparts and the car vanished underneath it.  

            The boy, the girl, and the bear shot down a long, paved tunnel that steeped continually down at an angle.  It was completely dark around them, the dashboard lights lit up Heero's unchanged face.  He switched one of the gears.  

            "Oh, my God," Relena held her breath.  There was a splash.  There was a mechanical sound.  They weren't driving anymore.  They broke the surface of the water and floated for one second.  Then Heero hit the same gear and they began speeding along like a red-Lamborghini-shaped-speed-boat.  Heero put the boat in cruise control and unbuckled his seat belt.  

            "Relena, please look at me."

            Aleta looked at him. "Look, if you wanted to go on a date, we can fucking _go on a date_, you didn't have to do all _this _to be alone with me." 

            "No, Relena," Heero groaned with a sweat drop on his head, "that's not quite it—"

            "And stop calling me 'Relena.' I don't know who 'Relena' is.  What do you want with me?"

            "I'm not going to hurt you."

            "You could have fooled me!"

            "Listen to me." Heero looked at her.  She looked at him.  He searched her eyes.  She searched right back. "How could you have forgotten me…"

            "I never knew you, I'm sorry."

            Heero folded his lips and looked down.  He touched the bear.   

            "Do you remember who gave you this?"

            "I just found it somewhere, my father told me."

            "Your father has been dead since you were a baby.  I gave you Heero-chan."

            Relena grasped the bear even harder.  "How did you know my nickname my bear? Only I knew that."

            "It was on the card that was attached to his ear.  It said 'Love, Heero-chan'."

            "How could you have known that?" She whispered, her eyes shivering.      

            "I wrote it.  It was a birthday present. From me to you.  You chased me all over the place and I never go the clue.  You were the only person that….loved me…and then…you made me love you…"

            Heero was obviously trying very hard not to say or do something.  He grasped the wheel.  Something boiled in the bottom of Relena's heart.  It was as familiar as it was foreign.  She laid her hand on his.  He looked at her.  She pulled off her seat belt.  He released the wheel.  She traced the curves of his face, her hands trembling with the realization that she did know him, but from where? Where could they have possibly met, fallen in love, and been in love, and she couldn't remember?  Did it matter? He was here now, he loved her now, but she couldn't love him, could she? Did she? Shouldn't she? She gently pulled him closer to her face, closer than most other humans could possibly handle, digging herself deeper into his eyes, deeper and deeper into his heart with wasn't anywhere near his stomach.  She felt light-headed.  Something was trying to force it's way to the front of her mind and the top of her heart.  She felt the whoosh of his breath on her top lip.  He was peering into her very soul…seeking her, finding her, not letting go…and she let him.  They drew closer, each feeling the heat of the other's lips, a longing, a strange longing, from a time that had been strained and eradicated from her memory.  It was too close.

            "Heero, my Heero," she whispered in a tiny voice.  She slid her lips in the break of his and held the shoulders of his shirt.  The memory was too familiar.  She dreamt of doing this, kissing his sweet lips while they sped away together, while she prepared her speech in her room on the fifth floor of the palace…

            She pulled away in tears. "He left me! Milliardo! He left me with the Sheltons until it was safe and I cried and cried because I missed him! I was so scared, Heero, so scared.  I had…a new life…I didn't want…I just wanted…you…"

            Heero shushed her and held her close, reassuring her that everything would be fine, but he would have to fight—again.


	3. False Sense of Security

False Sense of Security 

            The Lamboatghini (as Heero called it) cruised along the top of the green seawater for a few more minutes, and after those few had passed, Heero glued his eyes to the radar and guided their ride to what seemed to Relena and anonymous place in the open sea and dove.  She gasped at first, but she trusted Heero, as she always had, one hundred and ten percent, and just held on.  She smiled inwardly.  _He loves me,_ she thought happily, but she felt that now wasn't the best time to discuss how he felt about his one and only.  Now was the time to concentrate.  Relena cleared her throat.

            "Heero, why didn't I remember you?"

            Heero sighed. "Some time ago when your brother dropped you off, he may have given you some Memo-Block, and that's a new drug that's been proven to block your access of primary brain cells, the ones that store your basic information: Your name, age, height, etcetera, etcetera, things you should just know about yourself."

            "Ok, I gathered that, that's when I forgot about you. Now _why_?"

            "You're in danger."

            "I know that. That's why I went into hiding two months ago. Why did _you_ take me away, and where is my brother?"

            "One thing at a time," Heero groaned, "It's not safe for you at the Sheltons anymore. You've been found out. I didn't like the idea of those Memo-Blocks, there was such a big risk of you losing everything, but Zechs didn't want you living in fear, so that's why he pushed me so hard for them."

            "What were _you_ doing with them?"

            "Relena." Heero gave her his 'just one moment, please' look.  She closed her mouth. 

            "Ok, first of all, I don't know where your brother is.  I've been trying to contact him since the day after he dropped you off, because it was then that I found out that that particular plan for your safety was officially void.  You'd been sought out since then."

            "_What?_ By who?"

            Heero gave her the look, and went on, "Zechs never called me to confirm he gave you the Blocks, and I called all five of his numbers for days, never got him, never got Noin, tried to find you, and failed miserably."

            "Because you were looking for 'Relena Anybody,' and I was…Aleta?"

            "Yeah. I could only ask around.  There was no way you'd be in the phone book, and for the longest time, I was…despairing…but then I saw you, and I couldn't let you go." 

            "I understand everything, except why I'm really in so much danger, last I remember, it was something about a revolutionary." 

            "Yeah, and I think I know him, too."

            "A friend of yours?"

            "Not exactly.  An acquaintance." Heero paused, "and the Memo-Block was given to me by a friend who was trying to get rid of them. I told him I could sell them, I think."

            Relena adjusted herself to sit sideways in the seat so she could look at Heero.  Heero hadn't changed a bit.  Relena scolded herself repeatedly for forgetting this wonderful young man.  She knew Heero wouldn't respond well to what she was thinking, then she realized, Heero _was_ different. 

            "Heero, you're more…talkative than I remember you being."

            Heero looked at her. "I guess…I just had a lot to tell you." He cracked a small smile.  

            Relena smiled sweetly.  She hugged Heero Bear. "Where are we going?"

            "Quatre is waiting for you at this hotel.  You may have to stay there overnight or all week, depending on how fast I can trail this guy; he's not too keen on staying in one place for very long…almost like he _knows _he's being sought out…"

            "Maybe he does."         

            Heero pressed his lips together at the suggestion.  

            Nearly an hour later, they surfaced in some underground, water-ridden tavern, and drove up to the cement shore, transforming the Lamboatghini into a car again.  They drove for a few minutes through the dark, until they were admitted back into the streets via an alley with a huge hidden trap door.  Heero cruised down the street a bit, then smoothly turned into a middle-class, below-Relena hotel parking lot.  The cement was cracked and over grown in some places, and in others it looked pale and sickly, torn from the ground and scattered about carelessly.  From outside, the huff and puff of the expensive car was cut off when Heero pulled the key.  He put it in his spandex pocket.  Relena looked about the small, mangled lot through the tint.  She looked at Heero. 

            "We're going in through the back," he explained, "this is one of the few times you've been to a hotel and not made a flashy entrance, right?"

            "This is the first time I've been to a hotel like this." She confided quietly.  Heero touched her chin with the knuckle on his index finger.

            "You'll be fine. Quatre's here.  He won't let anything happen to you that I wouldn't let happen."

            Relena smiled faintly, somewhat comforted by Quatre, but disappointed that her Heero wouldn't stay himself and protect her. Heero secured her hand and hurried the ten or fifteen feet to the inconspicuous side door, pulling it open with a flex of his strong arms and pushing Relena in, turning his back to the door for one second to look behind them, then opening the door and taking one huge stride in.  Heero guided her to the side stairs and nudged her at the third floor.  Heero opened the door first, looked up and down the hall, then let Relena in, again secured to her hand, again going in a hurry.  Upon approaching a corner, he flattened them both against the wall and peeked around.  When he decided a few seconds later that they were safe, he proceeded around the corner, stopping at a door half way down the hall.  He knocked.  There was a three second gap, obviously the time Quatre needed to stand from a nearby chair, peek in the hole, and open the door, smiling at Relena.  Heero gave Relena a slight push in, and entered himself.  He still held her hand, but faced Quatre. 

            "I called Duo. He and Trowa are still trying to get Zechs while they help me trail.  Did they fax you or something?"

            "Yeah, Trowa called my line and said somebody saw him yesterday at colony 16739 Beta, Cramer Community Bank."

            "What in hell would he be doing in the colonies? He was just on Earth, it was all over the news."

            Relena's eyes widened when Heero said 'all over the news.'

            "He's not too keen on staying in one place for very long." 

            "Did Wufei confirm whether or not he's building arms?"

            Quatre shook his head.  "He's trying.  You said you were positive, he said he was trying.  We interrupted him from training somewhere back home—"

            "Not again.  He has to stop getting so pre-occupied with himself."

            Quatre smiled. Heero looked at his watch. 

            "Listen, I really have to go, remember what I told you." He looked at Relena. 

            "Relena, I know you may not like it, but I need you to do what Quatre says. I promise it's for your safety."

            Relena looked down at her hand, held by Heero, and nodded.  He dropped it, cutting off her feeling of being loved by the one whom she wanted to love.  He stood by the door. 

            "I'll call you if things get hot." He promised, and was gone. Relena bit her lip. 

            "Hey Relena."

            "Hi Quatre."

            "You might be here for a while. Do you want something to eat?"

            "No thank-you, I'm fine."

            "Would you like something to drink?"

            "No thank-you."

            "Are you tired? I bought you some pajamas in case you wanted to sleep."

            "No, I'm not, I'm fine."

            "Wow," said Quatre, "you're easy to take care of."

            Relena chuckled lightly. "Not when I first wake up.  I'm a mess, and a bossy one."

            Quatre smiled. "May I offer you a place to sit down?" 

            Relena smiled back. "Yes, thank-you."

            Quatre pulled out the chair he was sitting in and dusted it with a nearby towel.  Relena sat down and sat very lady-like.  Quatre sat on the bed.  Relena looked away and cleared her throat.

            "You don't have to watch me every second, Quatre."

            "I apologize Relena, I'm not trying to. I'm just very bored. Heero and the others felt that they would be better at muckraking and finding all the little details." Quatre smiled, "Trowa called me a spoiled little rich boy."

            Relena smiled to herself.  She was bored.  And tired. She looked out the small window, and realized it was getting late.  She turned on the television, and scooted her chair to face it.  Quatre moved to the other bed and watched with her.  They watched TV for a few minutes and discussed what they saw and drifted into other conversations.  Relena stretched and yawned.  

            "That was nice, Quatre.  I think I'll take a shower and put on those nice new pajamas you bought for me."

            Quatre smiled modestly. "Ok." He reached over to the side of the bed he sat on, exposing tiny wrinkles in his shirt that crawled up his side, and then straitening them when he produced her new sleepwear.  She took in gratefully and exited to the bathroom.  Quatre waited a few short moments until he heard the shower turn on, then waited a few more, and called room service. 

            "How can I help you?"

            "May I please have a cup of decaffeinated coffee and skim milk?"

            "It'll be right up, sir."

            "Thank-you."

            Seconds later, there was a knock at the door.  Knowing it wasn't the front deskman or any of his comrades, he pulled out his automatic handgun and held it ready.  He looked cautiously through the peephole.  To his utter surprise, the front deskman was there, holding a cheap, silver-colored tray with his milk, coffee, sugar, and a napkin bearing the cheap hotel's ugly logo.  He slowly let down his arm to unbolt the door.  He opened it enough to stick out the upper half of his body.  

            "Here's ya coffee." Said the grungy clerk. 

            "Thanks." Quatre accepted, taking the tray by its bottom and closing the door.  The front desk clerk muttered a few dirty words about his lack of tip, and went back to the front, regretting his trip up.  

            Quatre pressed his ear to the bathroom door.  The high spigot above the tub sang with the flow hot water. Relena was still in the shower.  He set his small drink ensemble down beside the little television and opened the can of milk.  He poured it in his coffee, watering down the drink to a chocolate brown color.  He poured in both provided packets of sugar, and lifted the lukewarm mug to his lips.  He took a huge gulp, and chocked on the rancid flavor.  If the coffee was fresh, it was cheap beyond belief, and tasted like mud strained from old socks.  He sipped down some more, finding it to still be quite disgusting, and then gave up trying to enjoy it.  He was surprised to see the stuff half gone, and felt somewhat pleased that it wasn't completely wasted. He sat down.  Relena was still in the shower, and he could hear the sound of the water being thrown to the bottom of the tub in floppy chunks as she rinsed her hair.  He felt a little woozy.  He turned his head to see the clock.  It was getting to be nine o'clock, and he was already sleepy.  _Should have gotten regular coffee,_ he groaned inwardly, now remembering his love of hot drinks and the way they out him asleep.  His stomach knotted.  He rubbed it as sleep came closer and closer.  He shook his head, but the drowsiness persisted steadily on, growing heavier as the seconds pushed him further and further away from reality and into dream world.  He stood up in an attempt to wake up.  That didn't work; it made him realize how tired he really was.  He sat back down, refusing to lay on the bed and just be completely out.  _This isn't right, I shouldn't be falling asleep _this _fast…_was his last thought before he closed his eyes and went limp in the chair.   

            After making absolute sure her hair was clean and well conditioned with the ill-quality toiletries, Relena wrapped up her hair and dried off with another towel.  She tried on her pajamas from Quatre.  They were a little big, and quite different from her usual gown, but comfortable nonetheless.  She exited the bathroom, rubbing a few spots here and there on her head with the towel.  She spied Quatre laying, apparently asleep in the chair that he'd previously offered her.  She smiled. She laid a hand on his shoulder. 

            "Hey, Quatre," she gave a little nudge.  He didn't respond.  

            "Quatre?" She shook him a little harder.  He still seemed to be asleep. 

            "Quatre…" she called to him, and shook him gently on both shoulders.  His head swayed from side to side, but he remained unconscious.  Relena began to worry. She called him once more, and shook him as hard as she could without being impolite, which should have awakened him, and he still didn't wake.  She took his pulse.  It was slower than hers, too slow. Her heart began to beat with the adrenaline of real panic and she backed away from her guardian.  She took a breath, tried to calm down just a little, and tried to open the door.  The dead bolt seemed to stand between her and getting Quatre a decent glass of water, and with an annoyed grunt, she opened it up and walked out. 

            The dim hallway seemed to smell of city nights and deep sleep; the lovelier, more 'civilized' hotels Relena was accustomed to had a sweet smell of pricey floor cleaners and air freshener.  It was an interesting change, but she didn't like it anymore than she liked Heero's abandoning her or Quatre's loss of consciousness when he'd told her earlier in the eve that he needed to stay awake most of the night.  Relena started to go back to the desolate staircase she had gone with Heero, but it was night now, and she felt that the night would protect her from whatever reason Heero was trying to protect her.  She went the opposite way of the side stairs, walking slowly but worried to death nonetheless.  She tried to concentrate on the sweep of her socks against the thin carpeting, the gush of the wind she stirred up through her damp, 'herbal'-scented hair, anything but the image of her guardian, limp in the chair, unattainable in conscious respects.  She turned a corner.  The main stairs sat quietly behind an open doorway covered in chipped paint the same color as the hotel's logo.  She scurried down to one landing, then another, and finally met the lobby. 

            If you could call it a lobby.  The heavy smell of sweat and chlorine crept out from a slender hallway labeled 'POOL & GYM' on one side, two chairs were on either side of the stairs she'd just come down, some ten or fifteen feet away, each accessorized by little coffee tables with lamps, old magazines, and later editions of _Colony Times_, a colorful newspaper Relena recognized from her last visit to space, so long ago.  On a worn table near the front desk, a coffee maker, half-full with some kind of 'Bavarian Roast' was still and quiet behind its coffee's packaging, which was beside an unorganized bunch of Styrofoam cups and packets of sugar and cream.  The still life before Relena made her the slightest bit calmer, but at the same time more nervous, as if it should fit the chaos she felt inside.  She took long strides to the desk and gave the bell one good, hard ring.  The same grungy clerk that had served Quatre appeared, breaking the pattern of brass room keys behind him.  

            "May I help you?"

            "I need some bottled water. Do you have any?"

            "There's some in the vending area."

            "Thank you." Relena didn't have a dime.  "Where is the vending area?"

            "By the pool. Open up the cooler and get you a bottle."

            _Thank God it's free_, she thought with a contented sigh.  She pushed away from the counter and looked out the big, glass doors at the busy night.  She froze.  There was a man in a car.  He was staring at her.  She stared back for a few seconds, feeling his eyes tracing her.  

            "Hey!" the clerk called.  Relena jumped.  

            "Anybody ever told you ya look like The Vice Foreign Minister?"

            Relena told the truth. "No, never."  She shrugged and took a breath, and then entered the slender, nauseating hall.  

            After a twelve-foot claustrophobic nightmare, she reviled at the smell of the dirty, over-chlorinated water and covered her nose and mouth.  Sure enough, there was an old, red cooler marked 'WATER.'  She used one hand to lift the top, putting it in the large groove and pulling back.  In mostly melted ice, there were three or four bottles of gas-station brand water, half-floating in their watery home.  She reached in and pulled one out, ignoring the intense cold, and dropped the lid with a muffled slam.  She hurried out, barely noticing the gym.  

            If the attendant was still at the desk, she ignored him, completely devoted to bringing Quatre his much needed splash of 'wake up and protect me.' She jogged up the thinly carpeted stairs, losing some breath at the final landing, and then began down the hall, undeterred.

            She had only come half way back to the room when the door opened.  A woman stepped out.  Relena thought fast, thought Heero, and jumped behind a protrusion in the wall.  She waited for a minute.  The woman obviously wasn't coming her way, or she would have seen Relena.  Relena smiled.  _So Quatre has a girlfriend, _she thought devilishly.  She peeked out from her hiding place.  The woman was gone.  Relena hurried down the hall, smiling about the revelation.  The door was cracked open, just as she'd left it.  She pushed it open.  Quatre was gone. 

            Quatre's phone rang a metallic song, scaring Relena, and she dropped the bottle.  As the bottle hit the floor with a fling of moisture, she rushed at the phone and jerked it up. 

            "Hello?" she asked in fear. 

            "Relena?" 

            "Heero! Wait just one moment, please." Relena laid down the phone quietly, and closed the door.  She picked the phone up.

            "Hello?"

            "Relena, are you okay?"

            "I'm fine."

            "Let me talk to Quatre. He should be answering the phone, in case the lines are tapped."

            "He's not here.  I got in the shower for like fifteen minutes, and got out and he was asleep in the chair, and I shook him and he didn't wake up and shook him more and he didn't wake up, so went down to try to get him some water—"

            "You went down stairs?" Heero sounded alarmed. 

            "Well, yes."

            "Relena, you shouldn't have left the room. The idea was for nobody to know you were there, not even the front deskman.  And Quatre's gone? Where?"

            "I have no idea. I got back up, I saw a woman coming out of his room, and I thought he was seeing somebody."

            "What kind of woman?"

            "What do you mean 'what kind'?"        

            "What did she look like?"

            "I didn't get a good look."

            "Listen, Relena, I'm coming to get you. Just stay there until I get there, don't let anyone in, and don't leave the room."

            "When can I expect you?"

            "Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock. Be ready."

            "Heero?"

            "Yeah?" 

            "I'm a little…scared."

            "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll be there in like twelve hours. Try to get some sleep.  Just don't leave that room."

            "Okay."

            "Bye, Relena."

            "Bye, Heero." She hung up. Heero sounded upset.  She was nervous.  There was no way she could get to sleep.  Where was Quatre? She could at least know where he was, and be a lot more comfortable.  She turned on the television.  Relena noticed that the tacky tray with a carton of milk, used packets of sugar, and smelly, half-gone coffee was missing.  Perhaps the lady she'd seen exiting was the maid, and Quatre had been gone before she came.  But she didn't have a cart of toiletries and cleaning supplies, so who was she?  

Relena didn't remember falling asleep. Her anxiety woke her up at something-to-nine, and she sat up with the sun in her eyes.  She took another, shorter shower, and put her capris and baby t-shirt back on.  _Heero Bear_, she realized, _I left Heero Bear with Heero. _The last thing she wanted was for Heero to think she didn't appreciate his gift.  Heero Bear's blue ribbon was still tied around his chubby neck.  Relena hugged herself.  It was nine-fifty. She prepared herself to wait longer that ten-o'clock, in case Heero meant that his flight came in at ten.  But Heero would have specified that of it were true, Relena half-felt. 

Nine-fifty-four came as slow as a snail, and Relena seemed to have tried everything to distract herself from her lonesome wait.  She tried to put her hair up in some intricate style, but it only took away two minutes to put up and take the monstrosity down.  She welcome nine-fifty-six with open arms and began pacing.  She stopped at nine-fifty-eight and just sat in the excruciating silence.  At nine-fifty-nine, she decided she was more than ready to pull all of her hair out.  But then the clock became one and three zeros.  There was a knock at the door.  Relena rushed to the door and flung it open.  Heero stood there with an eyebrow raised. 

"Always ask who it is," he grunted, taking her hand and pulling her out, leaving the door open.  Her shoes clomped against the floor, a switch from the swish of her socks from the previous night's unrest.  

"What about Quatre?"

"Duo will be down when he can to try to find him, but right now, I have to get you somewhere safe."

This stunned Relena. "But I thought Quatre was your friend."

Heero picked up the place to the colorless steps, opened the door, and turned to Relena, "I don't have friends."

_He hasn't changed_, her heart signed, falling from her chest and under Heero's foot. 

She was wrong to estimate Heero and his skills-a-plenty.  They boarded a bus, got off on some random street, and loaded up in another car, a world's difference from Heero's Lamborghini.  This was a regular sedan, a used one, for the interior reeked of pizza and smoke.  The windows were, like on the Lamborghini, tinted.  Relena realized that no one needed to see the crusader of peace cruising around in a Lamborghini with an unidentified teen boy.  Heero Bear wasn't in the car.  

Some hours later, Heero stopped the car. He got out, and got Relena out.   They went in the front door of a building, ironically enough.  It was a girl's home.  Relena didn't take in her surroundings, she just felt the hand of love pulling her this and that way, unsure of exactly how she should be feeling.  Heero let go of her hand. She looked at him.  He had a hard, yet sorrowful expression. 

"Listen, Aleta," he started, catching her attention, "Just stay here.  Kirsty, Summer, and Gianna will take care of you."

Relena nodded.  Heero hugged her, the warmest gesture he'd ever given this young woman he allegedly loved.  She felt abruptly drawn to his chest, then quickly released, and Heero was gone from her side again.  _In an ideal world,_ she remembered from one of her speeches, _every man, woman, and child is free from oppression. In my ideal world, Heero comes, and doesn't go._ She personalized her old message.  A small woman with happy, bright green eyes and shiny brown hair was in her face. 

"Aleta, would you like to go where the other girls your age are?"

Relena-Aleta sighed, smiled, and followed the little woman, who later identified herself as Kirsty, out to the gymnasium. 

The rest of the day was a complete blur.  She thought she loved Heero, she definitely believed Heero when he'd said that he loved her, but why did he find it so easy to just pack up and leave her?  She didn't play very much with the other girls, and none of them spoke to her during lunch, when they were served spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread.  Relena ate, though not very much, and kept to herself.  

Heero, unbeknownst to her, had left her a small amount of toiletries, her pajamas from Quatre, and Heero Bear.  She lay in her bed that night, hugging her worn teddy, worried about Quatre and missing her love that couldn't be…or could he?  She'd fought with herself for months, she remembered, before being taken to the Sheltons: forget about him or always keep him near?  Was he worth her? Did he deserve her?  Her eyes stung and the wild fur about Heero Bear's eyes bore hot little salty droplets.  Heero Bear cried with his mommy.  

A rustling jolted Relena from her middle-of-the-night daydream.  She hadn't slept, and had no idea what time it was, but it was too late for anyone, even Kirsty, Summer, or Gianna to be awake.  She swung her legs over the bedside and took her balance on the tiny rolls of material that made the carpet.  She hugged Heero Bear with both arms and peeked out the crack in the door.  Darkness shrouded the furniture in the hall, and when Relena stepped out, her foot hit a table.  She ignored the pinching sting, and proceeded down the hall.  She almost ran into a huge man dressed in black.  She gasped and tried to scream, but it wouldn't come, and the man didn't seem to care, this little girl wouldn't live to tell anyone anything anyway. The man's scent lingered in Relena's nose until he was out of sight, then she could only remember.  The screech of fleeing tires shot through the air, then followed its source, leaving Relena completely alone and frightened in the dark.  The Heero in Relena seized her at once and she about faced to the direction from which the intruder had come.  There was only one room in the darker part of the hall, and no windows for her to jump out of in case he'd left a nasty surprise inside.  She grasped the handle, holding as tight as ever to her tiny ball of bear comfort.  She turned her wrist and pulled the door, not hearing the creak for her heart beating in her ears.  Nothing. There was actually nothing.  But then, from the furthest reaches of her conscious being, her ear caught the distant, suffocated ticking that closely resembled and old-fashioned alarm clock.  She held her silent companion in the crook of one arm and pawed through the various-sized buckets and half-full bottles for the loudening tick-tick-tick.  It lay behind a bottle of Pine-Sol.  A cartoon-ish device that consisted of several red sticks with a common wick, bound by off-colored duct tape.  Only this was real.  The Heero in her drifted away as Relena took his place.  She stood up and backed away from the troubling distraction.  The door was wide open, threatening to swallow her in the thick darkness if she stopped.  She turned her back in panic, and hurried back up the stairs to her room, she had to get the girls up, had to wake them, warn them, _do something_.  She shoved the door to her shared sleeping quarters open—and Heero caught it.  Relena didn't have time to revile in complete shock, or even allow the shock to come on before Heero took helped himself to her waist and hurried her, whimpering, to the open window.  She opened her mouth to scream, at least awaken the other girls, but Heero silenced her, grabbing her, holding her so close with one muscular arm, and jumping out of the window.

Relena's glass-breaking scream came then, right before they hit the ground, when Heero whipped out the hand-held copter he'd borrowed from Duo and held it high.  Relena realized how deeply her fingernails had dug into her crazy savior, and she made the huge mistake of opening her eyes. She was flying.  Her eyes widened, closing the calm gap between her silken lashes and her eyebrows.  She twisted each leg about his thighs, vying for security high in the cool night air.  Heero held her like she often held Heero's tiny, furry counterpart, grasped tightly against his chest.  She could hear Heero's pulse racing, his heart beat as if breaking out of his chest, desperate after a long search for a way out.  His face, of course, never came remotely close to betraying his inner workings.  Relena heard a gigantic pop, as if someone had unscrewed a bottle of soda pop the size of Tokyo Tower.  She looked over her fuzzy shoulder at the home.  The left wing of the place had fallen in a fiery heap, and the other side joined its twin with a gaseous explosion.  Heero suddenly grasped his load tighter.

"Shit! Hang on!" he screamed, titling the hand-held copter away from the disaster.  They flew at an angle, and Relena could feel the heat of approaching destruction.  Heero's deep and frustrated growl vibrated in his chest.  Relena was hit by flying debris. She screamed, as a piece of something felt hot on her back, not hot enough to burn, but tortuous however hot.  She wanted to jump, to let go, to fall again to her death, but Heero's grip never loosened.  He pushed the nitro booster with his clammy thumb, and they managed to shoot just out of the reach of the blaze.  That drained the little bit of fuel left in the device, and Heero lowered them to just over six feet, before they hit the ground with a THUD!   Heero took two huffs, two puffs, and was on his feet again, and pulling Relena to her unwilling, shaky legs.  

"Come on, Relena, please, just a little further." He moaned, pulling her into a run.  Hurt, frightened, and beginning to cry, she pushed herself as Heero pushed her, and ran without thinking about it through some thin foliage that she vaguely remembered seeing ways off in the distance that day.  They slid down a steep gravel driveway and landed in somebody's backyard, powering through a hedge.  A few branches caught bits of Relena's hair and ripped them out, and she fell to her knees more than once, fully crying and Heero just dragged her on to the front of the house, and into the street.  They ran down the street, hand-in-hand-in-paw, until they reached another short street, at which corner Heero had parked another car, this one without tinted windows.  She opened the door for herself, and had barely closed it when Heero fired up the motor and drove out of the area.  

            Relena sat as she'd been two days prior; dumbfounded by the incident, and thoroughly shocked.  She looked at Heero.  He locked eyes with her. 

"The other girls," she cried, tears blurring the dim portrait of Heero before her.  He shook his head.  

"I'm sorry Relena, I'm so sorry.  I only made it in time to save you."

Relena cried harder.  She smothered her sobs in Heero Bear's belly. At least he had a heart.   

The car came to a regular stop at a camping area.  Log cabins dotted the mountainous terrain, and a lake was situated in the middle of a splendid painting by Mother Nature.  Heero looked at Relena, a human look, apologetic, sincere, sorrowful.   Relena pulled the handle of the car door and stood out of the vehicle, paining all over.  She had no will, no way, no hope.  From now on, she simply couldn't leave Heero.  He was too much for her not to have. She followed him, at a distance, to one of the smaller cabins, and took one step at a time to its creaky door.  He switched on a small lamp, revealing the first room, a woodland-smelling place similar to a family room, with a beat-up couch, old television set, and a wall phone.  He stepped past her to a dark room on her left, and turned on a light.  A rasp of running water lasted a second, then the lights left the room black and Heero emerged from the darkness with a glass of water.  She took it gingerly, and he watched her with his arms crossed indifferently as she slowly sipped it all down.  It tasted raw and dirty, nothing she was used to, but pretended not to notice, and the water was gone.  He took the glass and set it in the darkness of the kitchen, and guided Relena to another darkness.  This darkness was abated by the glowing moonlight that illuminated the room to a low glow.  Heero had to gently push her to the bed, in which he'd obviously been sleeping, and pull back the sheets.  She slid her slender frame in, Heero Bear first, and sank her head into the pillow that had once lay under Heero.  He covered her up.  

"Nobody can hurt you in any way, Relena.  I'll be right outside. Goodnight."  She stared at him blankly, and still stared at the same spot when he had gone.  The weak light in the family room vanished with a click, and the sound of Heero fluffing up the old couch was followed by the snap of a sheet unfolding.  The couch squeaked as it received his weight, which was obviously more than it was when he piloted his Gundam, because then, Relena remembered, he would sit in all sorts of squeaky furniture at school, but it never betrayed him.  But this couch didn't just squeak, it had a peculiar groan like Heero was all dead weight and then some.  He'd gained weight, but on Heero, Relena would never believe and ounce of it was useless fat—it had to be rock-solid muscle.  The moon was bright, big, and warm.  The stars twinkled their merry show for her, but she refused to enjoy it.  She didn't want him to leave her anymore, just as he had in the past…but this wasn't the past, so things had to change, be it for her safety or for her danger.  She left Heero Bear to sleep alone and crossed the threshold into the front room. 

The floorboards moaned beneath her bare feet, and she stopped when she heard Heero rise from his place.  He was a shadow imprint against the dark, and the pale light from the moon above shimmered on Relena, making her a glowing entity.  

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to be alone. I want to sleep with you." She walked around the shadow of Heero, and leaned forward to feel her way to the couch, which was lower to the floor that she'd presumed.  She sat down gently, hoping the couch would refrain from its noise making.  Heero stood behind her.  

"Come, sit by me," she insisted, patting the darkness she sat on.  Heero hesitated, but joined her.  She felt his weight beside her, supplemented by his body heat, which seemed to have risen.  Relena scooted just a bit closer, though _In my ideal world, Heero would make all the moves._   

"It's cold," she shivered, totally faking. Heero responded, just as she hoped he would, taking the blanket that had been flung over the back of the couch and wrapping both of them in it.  Relena couldn't help but snuggle beside him, her dream of being this close to him finally realized.  

Heero was very nervous.  He knew Relena was expecting some kind of affection, affection that he was more than willing to give, but what exactly should he do?  He scolded himself for not listening to Duo when Duo warned him of situations like this one, and their inevitability.  But now wasn't the time to wallow in shame.  Relena's breath was warm and dewy on his shoulder, and his lips ached to kiss.  He laid an unexpected kiss on her sweet lips, lips unspoiled by other men, lips untouched and pure, sacred.  She received him like an old lost love, and puckered mid-kiss.  Heero then drew his bottom lip along her top lip, eventually slipping it into her break.  Her unspoiled, sacred lips opened to kiss him deeply, at once suckling his bottom lip and slowly drawing away.  He seized her by her waist, imploring her never to leave him, hence she'd never be without him, and pulled her into another deep kiss.  She held his head, sliding her small hands though his wild mane, and his hands ran up her back and down her torso as he pushed her under him.  He kissed her deeper, searching for her, every live, breathing part of her, and finally settling to unbutton her pajamas.  

She felt him through his spandex, which showed his feverish desire to have her.  She felt her pajama bottoms slipping away, and her pajama top becoming more and more revealing.  Heero stood up at one moment to pull his shirt off from over his head, and Relena kissed his newly-gained muscles, pulling at his tight pants that suffocated and caged the raging passion within.  He broke the barrier, and The Peace Crusader and The Perfect Soldier were one.  


	4. The Revolutionary

The Revolutionary 

            A low, stifled ring growled a subtle tone in the distance.  Heero groaned, groggily contracting his eyelids.  They unveiled his enigmatic Prussian orbs, and his pupils shrunk, quickly, damming up the rushing light of a country morning.  Heero squinted, furrowing his well-shaped, thick eyebrows.  The ring was proceeded by another, identical in rude imposing on the cabin's intimate silence, but closer now that Heero reaped his consciousness.  He took in a sleepy grunt of a sigh, and slowly lifted his head from his pillow, that held an unusual warmth, as if not it disturb it from its steady slumber.  He turned his head to look at his pillow while stretching his neck, and saw not his pillow, but Relena's unclothed chest.  His saliva ran at the sight of his submissive love, a beauty that glowed within her now glowed within his own body.  She was delicious.

            But his lustful, loving thoughts did not stop the obnoxious satellite phone from calling to him.  He forced himself off of Relena, refusing his heart's demand to lie back down, to cover her nude, vulnerable body, to hide her from the world, to save her for himself, for now she was his, and his alone.  He put one shaking leg on the rotting wood floor and stumbled into the kitchen, drawing his back shorts with him, and struggling to get them up to his waist.  He settled to let the top hem remain at his groin, and hurried to the insistent, inconsiderate phone that sat alone on the oak wood table, filling the cedar-scented air with it's metallic buzz.  

Heero lifted the receiver to his ear, relieving the machine of it's angry scream. "Yeah?"

"Hey, buddy. I can't find a trace of Quatre. I used the tracker, but I'm not getting a signal."

"Why in hell would he turn that damn thing off?"

"I don't think he did.  I think he's been caught."

"By the revolutionary?"

"I guess.  I can't think of anyone else out to get him."

"Uhh," Duo said through closed lips.

"What? Speak, Maxwell."

Duo sighed. "I don't know. Maybe Dorothy…"

"What would she want with Quatre?"

"Sex?" Duo joked.

"Focus, Maxwell."

"Well, the girl is from Romefeller.  They have Alliance and OZ connections.  You never know."

"Maxwell, your job is to _find out_.  Or were you out messing around with Hilde all night?"

"Nope. I started this morning."

"Maxwell…" Heero growled. 

"I'm kidding, Yuy-san, chill."    

"Don't call me Yuy-san."

"Okay, okay, sorry.  I'll keep looking for Quatre. Trowa told me to tell you that Noin said she's not going to help us look for Zechs."

"What?" Heero exclaimed, then toned down when Relena stirred, "Why the hell not?"

"Trowa said she didn't say."

"Great. Well, fine. We don't really need her. It would just be easier.  What about Tallgeese?  Did you locate it?"

"Dude, I have looked high and low for that damn suit, but it's nowhere.  I swear." 

Heero sighed.  "Zechs knows where it is.  I can't believe he just took off like that.  I mean, this is his sister I have with me here."

"How is the babe and a half?"

Heero titled the lower half of the phone down and glanced carefully over his shoulder.  Relena was wide awake and watching his shirtless backside.  She smiled sweetly and stretched under the blanket, which teasingly covered her womanhood and chest.  Heero showed her his small smile. 

"She's fine.  I have to call you back.  Keep in touch."

"Always do. Peace, bro."

"Bye." Heero hung up the phone, the receiver hitting the base with a slight melodic jingle, the sound of the phone's interior being rocked.  Heero took a few long strides to the couch, and Relena sat up and scooted back, holding the sheet dangerously low on her chest and scrunched thin around her personal area.  Heero scooped her into his arms, and sat back down on the couch with her sideways in his lap.  She leaned against his chest, holding up the sheet between them, and kissed him deeply, arms wrapped around his neck.  He held her gently, not wanting to bruise his fragile love with his great, calloused hands, and dragged his fingers slowly down her spine.  She rolled her head back in sensuous response, and he licked and kissed her neck.  She rolled back up and their lips interlocked once more.  

"Oh, Heero," she muttered, as he hugged her close, answering the call his emotions bade him earlier.  He wrapped the sheet around her, and the bits that hung down danced on his thin spandex shorts, tickling his thigh.  Relena wrapped her arms around him, nearly tucking her shoulder under his arm, and laid on his collarbone.  He held her warmly, never intending to let go.

"Heero, who was that?"

"Do you remember Duo?"

"Barely. Describe him."

"A baka with a braid."

Relena smiled. "Oh, that sweet guy you hung out with?"

"Yeah, whatever. He's looking for your brother.  We might need him to fight this new threat.  He's usually always two steps behind me, but he can get into places and get things even I can't get into or get.  He's invaluable."

"That's a lot coming from you, Heero. I thought you and my brother despised each other."

"We did for a while. Then he approached me one day, and asked, 'Do you love my sister?' and I responded, 'Yes, of course I do,' and he said, 'Then protect her,' and he filled me in on what he thought I didn't know.  I let him think that I didn't know and gained on his knowledge in a matter of time."

"Okay," Relena sat up and looked Heero in the eye.  The mystical blue worlds were scantily hidden by his thick, wild growth that hung down in unruly dark brown swirls from the top of his head.  "What _exactly _is going on here? I get that some assassin guy wants to knock me off, I get that I was put into hiding so he couldn't find me, but what _else _is there?"  

Heero sighed. "I don't know. Duo is trying to get that information to me and everyone else so we'll know what it is we're dealing with.  I have no hunches whatsoever."

Relena looked down.  Her eyes met with Heero's astonishing abs, but she didn't really see them, the vision going in one eye and out the other.  "Why can't we all…just live in peace…."

Heero grasped her shoulders and pecked her lips. "Then there would be no use for guys like me.  But the world really is a better place when it doesn't need guys like me, isn't it?"

"Heero don't say that," Relena rebuked, finally succumbing to his irresistible body and running her little hands up his chest, "I want you, even if nobody else does.  And I'll stick by you.  You're doing this for me," Relena paused, gathering memories of Heero's past motivations, "Aren't you?"

"Yes, you are my main reason for fighting at all."

Relena breathed a sigh of relief. 

"But," he continued, "You are not my only reason. I happen to detest war, and wish a God-Awful lot that this man who wants to knock you off could just shut his rebellious ass up." 

Relena smiled faintly. "Is he an outspoken?"

"Apparently he's a republican."

Relena looked completely confused. "What does republicanism have to do with him?"

"We're not sure what kind yet, but we have some evidence that links this guy with the American government."

Relena gasped. "But America gave us such great support during the war with OZ! How could they support this guy?" 

"We're not sure what his relationship is with the American government.  Trowa's putting everything he has into searching for Zechs, Quatre is missing but supposed to be finding a safe place for you and getting our suits upgraded, and Wufei's supposed to be investigating this guy's military."

"He has his own military?" she gasped.  

"Something like that," Heero muttered.  "In some online PR he claimed that he's the perfect example of a perfect army, and that your ideals are childish."

"He sounds…crazy.  And you know this guy?"

"He's an acquaintance," Heero corrected her, "I didn't even remember his name until Zechs approached me."

"What is it?"

"Mueller.  Ferguson Mueller." 

Quatre finally woke up, but didn't open his eyes.  He didn't move.  He listened hard.  His head lay on room temperature cement, supporting itself just above the temple.  A warm drop of blood slithered down Quatre's feverish forehead, a garden of sweat beads, bruises, and cuts.  The image of the men who beat him with everything nearby played on the back of his eyelids, but he would not allow them to flutter and betray his consciousness.  He breathed as gently as he could, still pretending to be asleep.  His hands and feet were bound, perhaps with rope, and his feet were cold.  He listened harder, concentrating on the sound of breathing, and trying to make it appear in the room, confirming his need to remain 'asleep.'  It was not there.  He could sense no other presence, feel no other heat from a nearby body, nothing.  He held his breath and opened his eyes.  He was in a cell, a cell that couldn't have been larger than most closets.  His hands were indeed tied together by a finely woven rope, and handcuffs were around his ankles, and a chain attached him to the wall.  He sat up.  The drop of blood that ran down his forehead to his ear swerved in the direction of his nose, but was sidetracked by his blonde brow.  The blood stained the sun-gold fur over Quatre's eye, and only then did he eliminate it with a swipe of his tattered shirtsleeve.  He knew better than to try to get up, so he waited patiently for some guard or something to come by.  

Lo and behold, a good twenty minutes later, a policeman strolled into the pattern of iron bars in front of Quatre.

"Hey!" Quatre called, stopping the whistling, baton-swinging man in a stern stance.  "Hey, what am I doing here? How did I get in here? I just passed out in my hotel room and woke up here!"

"Wow, kid, that's a new one.  I've never heard a fake alibi like that before."

"No, sir, please, I'm Quatre Rababer Winner! Don't you recognize me?"

"_The_ Quatre Rababer Winner?"

"Yes, yes! What's my bail? I know I can make it."

"Son, you're going to spend a little time behind those bars for what you done."

"_What_ have I done?"  

"Your blood alcohol concentration was one-point-o.  You know that can be fatal?  You're lucky we caught you?"

"Then how did I get beat up?"

"The way you were socking the other three guys, we were wondering the same thing.  The owner of the bar had to shut it down, thanks to your shenanigans." 

Quatre was dumbfounded.  "Don't I get a phone call?"

"Certainly do."

"Can I make it now please?"

"Certainly may."  The officer tipped his hat lower on his eyes, in fashion as oppose to respect, and disappeared around a white-washed cement wall.  He reentered the balcony where Quatre was being held with a ring of jingling keys. He opened the door with a squeak of the rusting hinges and slid the mighty iron door to the side.  He squatted down at Quatre's feet and detached his feet with a click of metal and a surge of relief to his feet as they filled with lost blood.  Quatre realized he'd lost the feeling in his toes, and wiggled them to wake them up.  In response, the deprived digits bit him back with an uncomfortable tingle that spread and stung.  Quatre winced and stood, stomping the pain.  

"Foot's asleep," he explained to the guard, who nodded before the word 'asleep' was fully out, and walked on Quatre's heels out of the cell.  

Quatre looked all around him.  He was in a prison.  He was surrounded by cells, full of convicts and criminals.  He shuddered.  He was among the slime of society.  They poked fun at him from their mangy beds and bad uniforms, calling him everything from 'spoiled' to 'sexy.'  Quatre's ears reddened and he proceeded along with his head high, only focusing on getting to the phone.  

The phone was a pay phone hidden in a dirty, unpainted corner of the floor that Quatre was on.  The private matters discussed over it's unworthy lines were sparsely shielded by a splintery old board of dark wood, haphazardly installed into the wall around the phone.  Quatre picked up the phone and held it gingerly, as if the germs on it were visible and sliming on him.  He dialed a long number with his thumb and put the receiver to his ear.  When the number was dialed, the guard excused himself around the corner for Quatre's privacy.  

Relena was right by the phone, in nothing but Heero's green tank top, nibbling some bacon when the phone hollered at Heero to answer another call.  He reached over Relena, offering her a whiff of her own scent that covered his warm skin, and picked up the receiver. 

"Yeah."

"Heero, it's me."

Heero spit out the partially digested toast that was barely a solid. "Quatre, where are you?"

Relena stopped eating and pressed her ear to Heero's warm hand, hoping to make sense of the muffled vibrations that rang in their ears. 

"I'm in jail."

"What?"

"I don't know exactly what jail. I'm…a little nervous.  The guys around here are hitting on me."

"What are you in for?"

"Something about violating the intoxication law and fighting in a bar.  I haven't gotten a chance to ask about bail yet."

"You were fighting?"

"No, no, not at all.  Last thing I remembered was being in that terrible hotel with Relena and fighting sleep.  I think the coffee I ordered was spiked."

Heero lowered the microphone. "He says he thinks the coffee was spiked."

"It may have been. When I came from bringing his water, it was gone."

"The woman…" Heero muttered.

"Hello? Heero? What woman?"

Heero returned his mouth to the microphone. "Relena went to get you some water when she found you passed out.  When she was on her way back, she saw a woman coming out of your room."

Quatre paused. "What did she look like?"

"Relena didn't get a good look at her."

"What should I do?"

"Find out where you are.  Then call Duo, and he'll come get you."

"Has Wufei reported back yet?"

"No, last person to speak with him was Trowa a week ago."

Quatre sighed. "Okay, Heero, and you have Relena, don't you?"

"Of course. I told you I'd get her if you needed, and you needed."

Heero could hear Quatre smiling over the phone. "Okay. Tell her I'm sorry, but I passed out."

"I'm sure she forgives you," Heero assured, looking at Relena, who nodded gravely.  

"Great. I hope I survive this mess. I'll talk to you when I get out, and I'll see if anybody around here knows anything." 

"Okay, Quatre. Bye."

"Bye, Heero." Quatre didn't realize until after her hung up that he didn't tell Heero that he'd been beaten by some men that threatened to be from the New OZ.  Heero stuffed the last of his toast into his mouth and got up from the table, scraping the chair across the old floor.  His muscular body pushed through a small space between a window and the table and strode to the door, opening it and peering out into the world.  He inhaled the air deeply. It was so different from the pure air of the colonies. Just being here on earth was different from any experience he'd had at home in the colonies.  It was incredibly real and live, just natural and sweet.  Beauty seemed to be the fruit of the earth, occasionally over-reaped and over-ripe, but never unbearable.  Heero realized that the grudge he once held for the Mother Planet had never existed.  He loved it too much.  He loved her too much…

Heero gave Relena a pair of his jean shorts (yes, Heero has jean shorts) to wear with his tank.  They were gigantic on her, and his big belt didn't help.  That was cute.  His shorts were more like short capris on petite Relena, who struggled to walk and keep them up at the same time.  Heero threw together the rest of his things and held Relena's hand out to the car.  He added a ball cap to her look, and, with the exception of her long, soft hair, she could have easily been mistaken for a boy.   Heero spun the cap around, messing with her hair. 

"Heero," she muttered, shyly holding Heero Bear to her flattened chest.  He opened the front car door for her and she plopped down.  Seconds later, Heero got in, one leg at a time, and started the motor.  He drove away from the cabin on the remote, gravel road.

In a few quiet minutes, the Information Cabin crept into view.  Heero vaguely remembered the man's name that had rented him the cabin: Donny, or something pansy like that.  He stopped the car.

"Come on in with me," He ordered coldly.  She ignored the cod nature of his 'normal' voice and obediently got out of the car with him.  Her house shoes (Heero only had one pair of shoes with him) crunched the gravel effortlessly, at the same time Relena felt like there were rocks sewn evenly into the soles of the little snowmen, and they were a sort of 'sport massage' house slipper.  Heero opened a rickety old screen door and smelly wood door for Relena and they stepped inside.

Immediately in front of them was a deck that came nearly to Relena's shoulders.  _What could some desk clerk at a little run-down place like this have to hide?_ Was her first thought, contradicted by a dirty man that entered from the side, a NASCAR ball cap stuffed with his hair and covering his face.  Heero paid his face no mind and returned the keys.  The man gave Heero a form to sign.

"Join our mailing list." The man said emotionlessly, dead, like Heero, with a voice that burned Relena's ears.  

"No, thank-you." Heero replied darkly.  "Come on," he took he shoulders and guided her out.

"Yuy."

Heero and Relena petrified.  They moved their heads to face the desk, fear eating away their mental strength.  The man lowered his head, and took his hat off my the bill.  His off-black hair fell to ear-length.  His honey brown eyes glistened with something Relena couldn't identify, but Heero knew all too well.  Heero's grasp on Relena tightened.  

"I'm watching you."

Heero dropped his voice to a throat-deep tone. "Mueller."

The man smiled, a cool, confident smile, and lifted a large hand gun from the hidden part of the desk. 

"No witnesses," the maniac muttered, and shot Heero.

Relena's scream could have awakened the dead.  It's only gain, however, was really hurting Mueller's ears, a second-long distraction that cost him dearly.  Heero shoved his hand in Relena's right pocket and whipped out a slightly smaller handgun that she didn't know was there.  He aimed perfectly at the desk clerk Mueller's head and pulled the trigger.

Heero killed him.  Right there on the spot. Relena didn't bother asking why.  Heero knew what he was doing…didn't he?  He wouldn't just kill somebody if it wasn't for the greater good, would he? The man Mueller had shot Heero with some kind of poison dart, but they wouldn't know what kind of poison unless they took it somewhere and had it analyzed.  

"Please, Heero," Relena quietly began, "please let's stop and see what he hit you with." 

Heero flashed her a cold look, shutting her up, and she turned her thoughts on the man Heero had shot.  

"That was Mueller, Ferguson Mueller?"

"Yes." Came the quick answer.  

Silence.  Then Relena asked, "So he's dead now?"

"Shot in the head? I think so."

"Then how is he on the plasma radio?" 

Heero pulled the car over and looked at Relena like she had a few loose screws. "Are you okay?"

"I just saw the man I love kill somebody.  I'm as good as any pacifist can be."  

"Relena, I just killed him with my own two bullets," Heero assured, turning the screen of the plasma radio to face him, "He's dead as…" Heero trailed off, showing his first emotion since they left the forsaken lodge.  Relena leaned over on Heero, peeping at the truth.  

On the screen, a clean cut, well-dressed live man stood before several dozen colony and earth delegates, denouncing and degrading the most solid ideals of peace.  He looked dead into Heero and Relena's eyes, penetrating the difference of distance between them, and threatening them 'diplomatically.'

"The time has now come for the elimination of leaders against the war between the colonies and the earth, and those who seek to eliminate inevitable war for lifetimes come and gone."

There was a monotonous applause for the ridiculous statement as he won over the most powerful leaders.  

"…and outlaw the art of Gundam Piloting…" he went on, and it Relena's eyes were alight with a knowledge that she didn't care to be true.

"I know him," she whispered over the monster before them. "Senator Mueller. Republican." 


End file.
